Pterospermum reticulatum
Pterospermum reticulatum wight & Arn.  
(STERCULIACEAE)
Common names:
Malayalam: Mala vuram.
Tamil: Muli polavu, Thopuli.
 
Description:  Trees, up to 25 m tall. Leaves elliptic-obovate, up to 12 x 9 cm, cuneate to obliquely subcordate at base, acuminate at apex, entire or coarsely toothed near apex, underside covered with cream-coloured mealy tomentum dotted with darker minute stellate hairs, 3-nerved at base. Flowers 1-3, axillary,ca 3 cm across, yellowish. Bracteoles laceriate. Sepals 5, linear – lanceolate, connate at base, rusty stillate-hairy outside. Petals 5, obovate-oblong, recurved. Stamens 15 in 5 groups of 3 between the 5 filiform staminodes; connective produced into a terminal point. Ovary inserted on top of the staminal column, 5-locular. Capsules ovoid or oblong, 5-7 x 3 cm, obtusely 5 - angled, stightly contracted at base, stellate-pubescent, loculicidally 5-valved. Seeds 4 in each locule, winged above.
Flowering: December – March.
Fruiting: March – November.
Distribution: India: In evergreen forests of Western Ghats at low elevations. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.
Uses: Sometimes planted as roadside tree.
 
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